


a community of thought, a rivalry of aim

by elumish



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: College Student Yuri, Future Fic, Gen, Insecurity, M/M, Post-Canon, Teacher Katsuki Yuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 08:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12650067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: Yuri takes Japanese so he can understand what Katsudon and Viktor are saying about him.





	a community of thought, a rivalry of aim

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [transported into a dream world](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11041725) by [elumish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish). 



> This is only somewhat connected to transported into a dream world--it's the same general timespan but doesn't really share any scenes. It was more just the same starting point.

Yuri takes Japanese so he can understand what Katsudon and Viktor are saying about him.

He doesn’t tell either of them, of course, because he doesn’t want them to know that he can understand what they’re saying—though his spoken Japanese is already decent, after spending so much time around them and going to Hasetsu and  _practicing_ —but of course that’s ruined the first time he walks into the class with the TA and sees  _Katsudon_  there, writing something up on the board.

Yuri scowls at him, demanding, “What the fuck are you doing here?” in Russian, but Katsudon just smiles at him and asks him to take a seat and stick to Japanese in the classroom.

Yuri settles for scowling at him and practicing more. He won’t let Katsudon’s Russian get better than his Japanese.

\--

Yuri knows why they moved to the United States. Katsudon had said it was so they could use the better training facilities there, but Yuri’s not stupid; they moved there so Katsudon and Viktor could get married.

He loves Russia, but it’s shit sometimes, and for all Japan is all high and mighty, it’s not better on that part. Nobody spits on Katsudon or Viktor there, but they won’t let them get married, either. Which is bullshit. If the two of them are going to be all gross together, they should have to be stuck with each other for the rest of their lives. Separated, they’re even more unbearable.

So Yuri kicks up a fuss about moving, because he  _hates_  packing—no matter that he’s done it dozens of times, and is used to traveling—but he never tells them they should stay in Russia.

He’s the only one who’s allowed to be mean to Katsudon. It’s the rule. He’ll cut anyone else who tries.

\--

Katsudon is getting his PhD in physics of all things, and when Yuri tells him that’s stupid and he should coach instead—not because he’s good, but because he keeps Viktor from being totally useless—he just smiles and says he’ll help with that, too, when he can.

And he does, because Katsudon is nothing if not determined to make himself miserable; he’s up at five with Yuri and Viktor, working through the same stretching and workout before doing an hour of ballet with Yuri. Then he does his work while Yuri is training on the ice, which is a little offensive, because he should be watching Yuri, but the last time he yelled at him about it Viktor made him run suicides, and so he’s not doing that again.

Sometimes Yuri thinks his entire life revolves around Katsudon and Viktor, chasing them around the world, living in their shadows even though they’re both officially retired, still trying to catch up, and they’ll always have been first, older, and he hates it. He resents it. He’s still a teenager. He’s allowed to resent things.

But then he remembers that Katsudon wakes up at five to help train him, and he thinks maybe some days they’re revolving around him, like he’s the one who’s the sun, and Katsudon is the Earth, and Viktor is the moon, broadly moving around the sun but really following Katsudon.

Then he thinks he needs to stop doing his astronomy homework and play some Call of Duty, before he turns into as big a sap as Viktor.

Planets. So fucking romantic.

Ew.

They’ve infected him.

\--

The thing is that he hates that Katsudon is the teacher for his Japanese class, because he wants to impress Katsudon, that was the whole point, and he can’t impress Katsudon if Katsudon sees him with all his fuck-ups and all his mistakes. And it’s kind of nice because at least Katsudon knows how to teach people, but Yuri doesn’t want to look stupid in front of him.

So he works even harder, and does all of his work and listens to Japanese news on his runs, when he’s not listening to his music, and he does extra writing practice when he’s icing his bruises, and if Katsudon smiles at him when he says something right or does well on a test, it doesn’t have anything to do with anything.

Otabek thinks it’s hilarious, but Otabek is a dick, so what he thinks doesn’t matter. Because Otabek wasn’t dragged to a new fucking country just so his coaches can get married, and everyone speaks the same language as him, and just because Yuri likes his stupid face, it doesn’t change anything.

When Katsudon is going to call his parents but fucks up a fucking triple lutz and is sleeping because of the painkillers, with Viktor curled around him like a baby bird worried about its fucking mother, Yuri calls and explains in painstaking, awkward Japanese what happened and why Katsudon isn’t calling, because he doesn’t like him but his parents don’t deserve to worry about him, and Mrs. Katsuki smiles and him and says what a good boy he is and asks him how his skating is and says that they’re all rooting for him and compliments him on his Japanese, and he can’t make himself yell at her because she’s like what he thinks he would have wanted his mom to be, when he thinks about that.

But he doesn’t, because that way lies madness, and besides, he has Grandpa.

And Yakov, though he’s retired now, mostly, though apparently he still goes and yells at the team in Moscow sometimes, and he has Katsudon and Viktor, and he doesn’t need to think about what parents he should have had.

He does ask Mrs. Katsuki for a katsudon recipe, though, because he’s going to make Katsudon make it for him when he wins gold.

Because Viktor can’t cook. Not at all, not even remotely, and it’s a good think he got someone like Katsudon because Yuri doesn’t know how he didn’t starve before then. Even Yuri can cook.

\--

The thing is that Yuri lives with them. Or, well, not really, but he mostly does, because the dorm isn’t close enough to the rink, and they told him that he had to move in to the dorms to get the real university experience—which is rich, because Viktor doesn’t even have a degree—but they still have a room for him, and he didn’t want to move all of his shit, and it’s more convenient, and Katsudon knows how to cook for an athlete.

But when Yuri has a lot of Japanese work, he stays in the dorm, because he doesn’t want Katsudon to see him working on it, because he doesn’t want him to mock him for how much he works on it.

And it’s not like Katsudon usually mocks people for stuff, but Yuri knows, he just knows, that if Katsudon knew how much effort he was putting into learning Japanese, he would take it the wrong way and think that Yuri is doing it for him or something stupid like that, which he’s not. He’s doing it so they’ll stop talking about him in front of him without him knowing what they’re saying, and if it means beating Katsudon at something—because his spoken Russian isn’t as good because Viktor’s “lessons” mostly consist of the two of them ending up fucking against various surfaces because they’re gross—then that’s just a bonus.

But anyway, Yuri lives with them, and sometimes he thinks that this is what having big brothers is supposed to be like, except Katsudon is more like a dad in all he worries about if Yuri is sleeping enough and eating enough and happy, is he happy, Katsudon wants him to be happy, and it’s all so gross and unnecessary and the only reason Yuri hasn’t moved out is because their place is near the rink.

Whatever.

\--

He’s assigned to Skate America and the NHK Trophy that season, which is convenient for him even though Skate America is fucking across the country from him, and Russia might be large but the Rostelecom Cup has been in Moscow for like two years, and that wasn’t all the fucking way across the country from St. Petersburg.

For the NHK Trophy, though, he’s afraid he’s going to get there and forget the whole language, because that would be just his luck, but when he steps off the plane and into the airport and Katsudon’s Japanese sports reporter friend sticks a microphone in their face, he finds himself answering in Japanese.

The look on the reporter’s face makes it worth it. Asshole thought Yuri would have to answer in English. Think again, Japanese reporter man. Yuri knows your fucking language now.

Of course, his accomplishment is overshadowed by Viktor throwing an arm around him and adding on in the same language, and so now the whole world is going to be talking about how good Viktor is at Japanese, which Yuri already knows because he and Katsudon speak it all the time at home, but that really just is Yuri’s life. He does something impressive and then Viktor does the same thing and everyone talks about him instead.

It’s like Viktor is the sun and Yuri is the moon, bright only because he’s reflecting Viktor’s light. But he’s bright on his own, he’s good on his own, he was before Viktor was his coach, he was when Viktor wasn’t competing against him, he was when Viktor wasn’t around.

So he just ducks out from Viktors arm and stalks away to go find his suitcase.

He hides in his hotel room that night, pleading jetlag and needing to rest and who wants to deal with you two when you’re being gross anyway, and Yuuri and Viktor don’t question it, which is good, because Yuri doesn’t want to have to try to explain why hearing Viktor speak Japanese in Japan makes his chest ache. He’s being a stupid little kid, he knows, because it doesn’t matter, it isn’t anything, but he wants _something_ , he wants something that he’s good at, something that he’s better at than anyone else, better at that Viktor fucking Nikiforov.

Otabek is at the NHK Trophy too, and he finds Yuri when he’s sulking over a protein bar the next morning; he looks the same as always, calm and warm and solid, and Yuri drapes himself across him and takes a selfie that Otabek almost smiles for. He takes two, actually, and posts the one with less of a smile, because he wants to keep Otabek’s smile to himself, because that’s his, at least. Otabek doesn’t smile for anyone else.

“I’m going to kick your ass,” he tells Otabek in Russian before thinking that he should learn Kazakh because maybe Otabek misses being able to speak in it, because at least Yuri always had Viktor and Yakov and the other Russians with him. But he doesn’t know how to learn it without Otabek knowing, so maybe he won’t.

Otabek snorts at that, rearranging Yuri with big hands so he’s not in danger of falling off onto the floor. He doesn’t even seem to notice he’s doing it, exactly; his attention is mostly fixed on his phone, sitting next to him on the bench. “You can try.” He ruffles Yuri’s hair, which isn’t up yet because he’s being lazy and also braiding it for competition is Katsudon’s job. “You want me to deal with this?”

Yuri hesitates a little too long, because it’s Katsudon’s job, and Otabek says, “Never mind.”

But Yuri wants to feel Otabek’s hands in his hair, so he blurts out, “Yes. Please. If you don’t—yes.”

“Sure,” Otabek says quietly, then starts braiding his hair.

It ends up looking the same as it always does, or close enough, close enough that it means Otabek knows exactly what Yuri’s hair is supposed to look like, and that makes something warm and soft grow in his chest, and when Otabek is done Yuri ducks his head and kind of wishes his hair was still down so he could hide how red his face surely is. But Otabek doesn’t comment on it, instead just saying, “Davai. I’m looking forward to seeing you get silver.”

\--

Katsudon and Viktor find him ten minutes later, and he sees Katsudon’s look of surprise that his hair is already done, and he feels a pulse of vindictive happiness at that, even though his chest aches again when Katsudon says, “You already braided your hair,” and sounds fucking sad about it. He has no right to feel sad about it. He and Viktor were too busy fucking or cuddling or doing whatever they do in the morning.

Yuri and Otabek go one-two in the SP, far ahead of the rest of the field but close enough neither is particularly favored for gold, and he throws a stuffed bear at Otabek’s head when he skates off the ice. Otabek just catches it and tucks it under one arm before heading to the Kiss and Cry, and Yuri sees him holding it when he walks away from it. It makes Yuri smile, even as he clutches on to the giant tiger Otabek handed to Yuri when Yuri got off the ice.

Otabek takes gold by .05, and Yuri is so proud of him he thinks his face is going to break from trying not to smile, and he wants to kiss Otabek’s stupid face, and he thinks he’s become as gross as Katsudon and Viktor, and he kind of hates himself a little.

The Japanese reporter asks him in the press conference, “When did you learn Japanese?” and Yuri can’t help but laugh.

“I train under Viktor and Katsuki,” he says. “I had to know what they were saying when they were gossiping about me.”

Viktor beams at him from the corner of the room, and Katsudon smiles, and he can feel the heat of Otabek next to him, and he thinks maybe he will learn Kazakh next.


End file.
